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Goldman Sachs has poached Richard Kauffman, co-head of Morgan Stanley's global banking group, for its investment banking team in New York.

Kauffman will take a senior role within Goldman Sach's financing group which includes debt and equity capital markets.

Two years ago, Kauffman was global head of capital markets at Morgan Stanley in London. He was among the first global heads of a division at a US bank to be based outside the US. He returned to New York to become co-head of the banking group in 2002.

Kauffman's departure from Morgan Stanley comes just two months after that of another senior investment banker, William Lewis, who left to join Lazard. Lewis was head of global mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley, where he had been for 24 years.

Since the start of this year, Morgan Stanley has forged ahead of Goldman Sachs in US equity capital markets rankings. The bank now holds first place with a 19% market share, having worked on almost $17bn (€14bn) worth of deals. Goldman Sachs is in second place with $12bn worth of deals and a 13% share.

Last year, their positions were reversed. Goldman was in first place with $24bn worth of deals for 2003 and a 15% share, while Morgan Stanley ranked second with $21bn in deals and a 13% share.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the move and Morgan Stanley was unavailable for comment.